New women's group to fund local charities

A new charity organization had its first meeting Tuesday, July 15, in Elkhart.

Jenny Welch and Sheila Terlep started the organization 100 Women Who Care Elkhart to raise money for charities in Elkhart County.

“We just wanted to make a difference in Elkhart,” Welch said.

Women Who Care will meet every three months for an hour-long meeting. Each woman or team of women will write a check for $100 and write down a local charity.

Each charity will be put into a pool for consideration. Three will be drawn and the attendees will vote on which of the top three they think should receive that meeting’s funds.

“Every woman will come hopefully with a charity in mind,” Welch said. “The sky’s the limit as far as the pick.”

She said about 90 women signed up for the inaugural July 15 meeting. The goal is to get 100 women to donate at every meeting so each charity selected will get a $10,000 donation — over a year, the group would give $40,000 total to four charities.

“We just hope we can make an impact for the betterment of the community and change lives,” Welch said. “It’s women working with women, trying to make a difference for the community.”

The next meeting will be October 15. Women interested in attending can RSVP to yogalady315@aol.com